Yumichika Ayasegawa

Yumichika stands out for the flourishes he adds to the standard Shinigami uniform. An orange garment wraps his neck and covers the chest his robe would otherwise leave bare, linked to a matching orange sleeve along his right forearm beneath the looser sleeve of the uniform. Bright feathers decorate his right eyebrow and lashes, and together with his glossy skin, purple eyes, and jaw-length black hair they lend him a distinctly feminine look. In the years before he entered the Gotei 13, his outfit was a flower-patterned kimono, he went without the feathers, and he tied his hair back loosely. His styling shifts over the years, adding a braid, extended lashes, and later a white cape as more time passes.

Vanity defines Yumichika, who measures nearly everyone and everything by its beauty. He originally coveted his division's third seat because he found the numeral the loveliest, and when Ikkaku claimed it he settled for the fifth, reasoning that its character resembled a three. For all his preening he can be genuinely kind and helpful, and he is fiercely devoted to Ikkaku, once abandoning his assigned post and threatening allies who tried to stop him from rushing to his friend's side. He cares deeply what Ikkaku and Captain Zaraki think of him, which is why he keeps the real character of his Zanpakutō hidden, and beneath the flamboyance he is quick to read an opponent's methods.

Though only a third seat, Yumichika commands spiritual power on par with a lieutenant, marked by a green aura. He is a skilled swordsman, moves with Shunpo to keep pace with faster foes, and is secretly a capable Kidō user able to fire mid-level destruction spells without an incantation. He weathers punishment well, fights on through serious wounds, reads his enemies shrewdly, and even boasts an unusually keen sense of smell.

His Zanpakutō, Ruri'iro Kujaku, or Azure Peacock, is a Kidō-type blade, exactly the kind the combat-obsessed Eleventh Division scorns. To keep its true power concealed, Yumichika deliberately addresses it by a nickname it despises, Fuji Kujaku, so that it sulks and holds itself back. Only its real name unlocks its full strength.

Released, the sword becomes a sickle-like blade that hinges apart into four, then sprouts glowing, peacock-feather vines. These ensnare an opponent and grow buds that drain the victim's spiritual energy to fuel their own bloom; when the flowers open, that stolen power is turned back on the target to cripple or kill. Yumichika can also bite a petal to heal himself in proportion to the energy absorbed. Because the ability drains rather than cuts, he guards its secret from Ikkaku and Zaraki above all others.